No idea. Quite a few websites claim Pu-erh is lower in caffeine than other teas. What was it? Maybe you're experiencing Cha qi? I'm not sold on that whole idea but I've found some teas affect me differently than others too...

The thing about tea is that it not only contains Caffine but a lot of other healthy stuff. Minerals, antioxidants (?), and lots of water! All nice things to help wake you up and give you energy. Also if you add sugar to it you get a energy from that.

All soda's use caffeine but they have Corn Syrup or Aspertain(?) in them for sweeteners which don't digest easily. Being near the border I can get Mexican Coke (soda not illegal substance) which has Cane Sugar in it instead of the other sweeteners. And I have to say damn that stuff will give you a buzz. The caffeine and real sugar will get you going real quick. I think I need to go buy a box of them again here soon.

I don't know, Caligata, but I had the exact same response to the first Pu I ever tried--felt like my heart was racing, hands were shaky, and my head was buzzing. It was weird, because I rarely react to caffeine.

I have just plain ol' ADD and I found that some pu'erh teas are strong enough to replace my meds. It's a great situation, tea is cheaper, healthier, and doesn't have the nasty crash that prescription amphetamines do, though if you brew it too strong, it's just like a mild OD of my former meds. It also gives me a great excuse to buy more tea. "It's for medicinal use, really!"

My medicinal tea of choice: 2005 6FTM Yiwu ltd. It used to be cheap, tastes good (extremely floral aromatics), and kicks like a mule.

I had a similar feeling the first few times I tried matcha, I assumed it was due to the onslaught of fresh ingredients into my system along with the caffeine. No need to think about extraction times when you can just eat the stuff.

I think it has to do with the Oversteep Effect. If you oversteep pretty much any tea, the tea becomes bitter and hard to drink from what I believe is an increased release of tannins (as well as other agents). These extra ingredients not only change the flavor, but I believe they're responsible for the jittery energy kick oversteep teas can give you.

Pu-erh is supposed to be brewed with extremely short infusions. As anyone who has oversteeped young sheng by even a slight amount can tell you, the stuff gets bitter. This has led me to believe that pu-erh teas have either a higher content of these jitter-enducing agents, or just release them more easily.

Pu-erh can really kick your ***. Young sheng especially. Shu, not as much, and aged pu-erhs really don't stimulate me much at all.